George Lewis

Trombonist and composer George Lewis studied his crafts with Dean Hey and Muhal Richard Abrams. Lewis’ compositions and improvisations are found on over 80 recordings, and he has performed with such musicians, composers, and improvisers as Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, Count Basie, Derek Bailey, and John Zorn. A Yale University philosophy graduate, Lewis has been a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since the ’70s. His residencies include IRCAM (Paris), STEIM (Amsterdam), and Alberta’s Banff Centre for the Arts. Lewis has been an NEA Fellow, was hosted as Visiting Artist by the Art Institute of Chicago, and curated the music program of New York’s The Kitchen Center. Lewis also programmed interactive music systems for computers, has lectured at computed art workshops, and has worked as a computer installation artist, with interactive installations shows at Paris’ Musee de la Villette, in Boston, and Chicago. Joslyn Layne, All Music Guide

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2015 Fellowship Announcements

Congratulations to Steve Lehman and George Lewis, who have both been named 2015 Guggenheim fellows in music composition.

They are 2 of 175 recipients of this year’s fellowships, and were selected from a pool of over 3,000 applicants.

Our congratulations also goes to Steve Coleman and Muhal Richard Abrams, both of whom are recipients of the 2015 Doris Duke awards in performing arts.

We are proud to be actively involved in the music of all four of these gentlemen. They are at the top of their fields, and we are proud to see them receiving such widespread recognition for their work.

AACM Celebrates 50 Years

The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is one of the most innovative and respected organizations in jazz, providing decades of support for creative music and musicians. This year the organization turns 50, and there is still a lot of music to look forward to.

Classicalite recently published an article on the beginnings of the organization. Read the full story here.

To help celebrate the anniversary, the Robert D Bielecki Foundation has announced a matching grant of up to $25,000 to help present a series of concerts this fall in New York City, as well as to assist in strengthening the infrastructure and outreach of the organization. For more information, and to make a donation, please visit the Robert D Bielecki Foundation.

Pi recordings is proud to have worked with many AACM artists, including Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Wadada Leo Smith, Roscoe Mitchell, Leroy Jenkins, Fred Anderson, Anthony Braxton, and George Lewis.

NPR’s Kevin Whitehead gives a glowing review to George Lewis’ A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and the American Experimental Music. Kevin calls the book “rich, dense and gratifyingly readable.” but listen for yourself.

Wonderful feature article on the AACM by Nate Chinen in the New York Times on the occasion of the release of George Lewis’s “A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music.” It’s really heartening to be reminded how many of the key members of the AACM, some now gone, have recorded for Pi. Chinen goes on to name Fieldwork as an example of a band influenced by the AACM aesthetic. Thanks Nate for helping to draw attention to an organization whose recognition falls well short of it’s influence on the music.

The Year End Lists are in and we would like to thank the following critics for their support of our releases this year; Alex Dutilh for including Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell’s Streaming and Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Codebook in his year end list and Stuart Broomer and Philip DiPietro for including Steve Lehman’s On Meaning in their year end lists.

Additionally, we would like to thank those critics whose votes helped Muhal Richard Abrams Vision Towards Essence to be included on the Village Voice 2007 Jazz Poll and those whose votes helped Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers to be recognized among the Best Debut Albums of 2007.